China’s sole aircraft carrier anchored for the first time in the country’s southernmost province of Hainan on Friday, in a move analysts said greatly enhances the Chinese navy’s combat capability in the South China Sea.

The Liaoning will conduct tests and training after anchoring at a naval port in Sanya, a PLA Daily website said.

The website said the large harbour at Sanya was designed and built by the Chinese navy and has the facilities to dock a variety of large vessels.

Zhang Junshe, deputy director of the Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said, “With the harbour built at Sanya, China has greatly expanded the range of its carrier in the South China Sea.”

He said the voyage to Sanya will help the Liaoning’s crew to get accustomed to the vessel’s second base, where conditions such as the water temperature and depth are quite different to those in Qingdao, Shandong province, its home port.

Aside from Qingdao, the headquarters of the North China Sea Fleet, and the carrier base in Sanya, the Liaoning has only docked at the Dalian shipyard where it was built.

Escorted by two missile destroyers and two missile frigates, the Liaoning left Qingdao on Tuesday.

Before reaching Sanya, the vessels operated at high speed, day and night, in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea and passed through the Taiwan Straits on Thursday.

It is the first time the carrier has embarked on a cross-sea training voyage since being commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army navy last year.

The Liaoning made several training voyages earlier this year, but had never embarked on a training voyage of such length.

The carrier’s captain, Zhang Zheng, has said that tests in the South China Sea will pave the way for future missions.

Although the Liaoning did not pass near the Diaoyu Islands, where tensions are running high between China and Japan, the United States and Japan sent warships to follow the Chinese vessel closely.

Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said on Thursday the Liaoning’s mission in the South China Sea is not targeted at any country.

Yin Zhuo, director of the Chinese Navy Information Expert Committee, said the South China Sea is an ideal area for the carrier’s training mission and for its escort group.

A voyage of at least several weeks and up to two months in heavy seas will be crucial for a comprehensive test of the carrier’s equipment, he said.

Zhang Junshe said it is understandable that the US and Japan have paid great attention to China’s new carrier, but they need to get used to its existence.

Li Jie, a senior researcher at the Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said the US and Japan have exaggerated the combat capability of the Liaoning for their own purposes, such as expanding their naval forces.

“To tell the truth, the Liaoning lags far behind the 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in the US. The gap will widen when the USS Gerald R. Ford begins service in 2016,” Li said.

He added that it does not make sense for Washington to be nervous about the Liaoning’s “normal” training voyage, as the US has highly advanced carriers deployed in the region.

The embattled ruling coalition countered anti-government protesters yesterday by setting up a “war room” to spread information from its side, as media outlets become increasingly dominated by news of the street rallies.

The “war room” will monitor and assess the latest developments in the protests, said government spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi.

A media centre has also been set up at Government House to give updates in Thai and English three to four times a day.

Both the ‘war room’ and the media centre became operational yesterday, he said, adding that they were separate from the police Centre for the

Administration of Peace and Order, which is in charge of administering the Internal Security Act during the current turbulence.

Teerat said the frequency and number of channels for the dissemination of information would be increased.

The media centre will explain the latest situation to the public, he said. In addition to the government spokesman’s team, there will be personnel

from agencies such as the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and security agencies.

“Certain Cabinet members or even the prime minister may also be present if there is an urgent issue,” he added.

Defence Ministry permanent secretary General Nipat Thonglek joined the war room’s first press conference at Government House yesterday. He

said the military disagreed with the protesters’ occupation and sieges at many government offices.

The government and the armed forces want to see talks between both sides, following almost a month of street protests, he stressed.

A number of other senior government officials were also present at the press conference.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra would not dissolve the House, according to a source from the ruling Pheu Thai Party.

The source said party leaders had agreed there would be an immediate political deadlock if she were to dissolve Parliament soon.

They fear three factors that would affect Pheu Thai in the event of an early dissolution: members of the new Election Commission have not yet been endorsed by His Majesty the King; the Democrat Party may boycott a general election, as it did in early 2006; and Pheu Thai’s popularity has fallen due to its backing of the controversial amnesty bill.

“We have rejected several parties’ demands for a House dissolution. The party’s urgent strategy is to create fear among the public that the anti-government protests are violating the law,” the source said.

“We are focused on communicating with the people to attack (former Democrat MP) Suthep Thaugsuban’s group heavily via social media. We will post photos and audio of him encouraging protesters to commit illegal acts. We hope it can block some people from joining the rallies,” the source added.

Pheu Thai Party issued a statement in support of the prime minister yesterday and the idea of talks to resolve the political crisis peacefully. It thanked the United Nations and countries that had supported the proposal for talks.

However, the party insisted it could not accept the ruling of the Constitutional Court that the charter amendment pushed by the majority of parliamentarians to amend the Senate’s election rules was unconstitutional.

The party called on protesters to leave government agencies, and said their demand to set up a “People’s Council” to lead the country would not be possible under the current Constitution.

Pheu Thai also said the Democrats, which has key members currently leading the anti-government protests, had acted illegally.

A group of borrowers are set to call for financial regulators to conduct a full-fledged investigation into KB Kookmin Bank, criticized for its alleged financial wrongdoings, the Korea Consumer Agency said Friday.

Their protest against the bank comes after the Financial Supervisory Service recently publicised several instances of misconduct by the lender at home and abroad, said the consumer advocacy group.

According to the KCA, some hundred borrowers plan to ask the FSS to widen the scope of the inquiry into the bank. “Borrowers could be the main victims of KB Kookmin Bank’s interest-overcharging or embezzlement,” said a spokeswoman.

She said the KCA is also considering filing a complaint against some former and incumbent chief executives of the bank with criminal investigative authorities.

Regulatory officials, however, said the coming consumer-initiated inquiry into KB Kookmin may not be realised as the regulator has already

been looking into the case. “We rule out overlapping probes,” said an FSS official.

According to the FSS, an employee of the bank headquarters recently embezzled company funds totalling 9 billion won (US$8.2 million).

Inspectors are conducting an on-the-spot investigation at the bank headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, in a bid to reveal whether the lender has been negligent in internal control.

A Tokyo branch manager was caught by authorities in September over improper issuance of loans worth 170 billion won during the former Lee Myung-bak administration.

Some market insiders allege that the loans could have been glossed over by former KB Financial Group chairman Euh Yoon-dae, a close confidant of former President Lee.

The bank’s Beijing branch was found to have replaced its manager and deputy manager without following personnel guidelines set by Korean regulators.

Inspectors also plan to launch an inquiry into the bank’s acquisition of Bank CenterCredit, a lender in Kazakhstan.

The action comes after KB Kookmin Bank purchased a 41.9 percent stake in the Kazakhstani bank for 940 billion won back in 2008, which has inflicted losses worth 400 billion on the Korean bank.

The bank also has been suspected of having overcharged domestic borrowers loan interest totaling 2.9 billion won.

Apart from the FSS��s investigation, the prosecution recently launched a probe into the bank’s alleged corruption.

Meanwhile, the FSS has launched its probe into the banking industry�s internal management. Market insiders alleged the regulator’s main targets include bank units of three other financial groups ― Hana, Shinhan and Woori.

Despite a series of warnings and disciplinary action from the FSS, there have been continuous financial incidents such as embezzlement and dubious funding to the political sector over the past few years.

“In the wake of the Tong Yang Group’s fraudulent sale of risky investment products, more and more consumers appear to be distrusting financial service firms,” said a research analyst.

He said it is urgent for financial service firms to bolster internal controlling not to lose confidence among their customers.

Over 30 people have died in Taiwan in the past two days due to cold weather, according to unofficial statistics.

Daytime temperatures plummeted to 13 or 14 degrees Celsius in Taipei on Thursday and dipped to 12 degrees Celsius Thursday night through early Friday as the winter’s first cold front hit Taiwan.

According to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), temperatures around Taiwan dropped sharply early Friday, with Tamsui, Chiayi and Banciao recording 9.5, 9.6 and 9.9 degrees, respectively.

Temperatures rose slightly during the daytime but are expected to drop again at night, CWB officials predicted.

In mountain areas, meanwhile, mercury dipped below zero, with the lowest temperature recorded on Mt. Hehuan at negative 8 degrees Celsius early Friday.

The CWB said temperatures will rise today, with highs at 21 to 22 degrees Celsius in Northern and Central Taiwan and 25 degrees Celsius in Southern Taiwan, and stable weather will make the day suitable for outdoor activities.

Taipei City firefighting officials said 17 elderly people died suddenly in the city in the past two days.

In neighbouring New Taipei City, the number of sudden deaths on Thursday alone amounted to seven, according to municipal firefighting sources.

In Taoyuan, another northern county, a citizen fell into a coma allegedly due to the frigid weather and died Thursday shortly after being rushed to a hospital.

Three residents of the northern area of Hsinchu were hospitalised with cold-related symptoms Thursday, and two of them died later in the day.

In the southern city of Tainan, three residents reportedly died suddenly Thursday of cold-related problems.

The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said the death toll is calculated in terms of direct causes of fatality such as diseases or accidents.

According to the agency, frigid weather is not a direct cause of death but rather an environmental factor that could cause an illness to deteriorate.

As emergency room physicians at hospitals do not always mention whether a patient’s health is affected by the weather, the HPA said it is not likely to formally tally weather-linked deaths in a death toll.

Meanwhile, the Taipei City government’s Department of Social Welfare said Friday that it had opened two temporary homeless shelters the previous day as temperatures were dropping.

A total of 64 homeless people took refuge at the two shelters Thursday, the department said, adding that it will collaborate with charities and non-governmental organisations to provide shelter to more homeless people during the winter season.

A three-member Supreme Court-appointed panel probing the charge of sexual harassment of a young lawyer has identified the judge as Ashok Kumar Ganguly in its report, court sources said.

The report, submitted to Chief Justice P Sathasivam, carries the statements of the victim, a young lawyer who had interned in the Supreme Court, and that of the now retired Justice Ganguly, the sources said.

Denying any sexual harassment of the law intern, Justice Ganguly, who is now the head of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, said he was “shocked and shattered” by the charges against him. “I am denying everything. I have told the committee that all the allegations levelled by he intern are wrong. I don’t know how such allegations have been levelled against me,” he said in his reaction after an SC official released a statement that Justice Ganguly had recorded his statement before the three-judge committee, headed by Justice R M Lodha.

“I totally deny the allegations. I am a victim of situationsâ� I am not ashamed of anything,” he said in reply to a question in regard to the alleged episode which came out in the public domain after the intern wrote about it in a legal portal earlier this month.

Bengal’s ruling Trinamul Congress, which does not have a cordial relationship with the WBHRC, was quick to demand Justice Ganguly’s resignation.

“He has no moral right to continue as the chief of the human rights panel. What he did is a big blot to the judicial system of the country and a person who himself is an accused should not be allowed to determine about others’ rights,” Trinamul MP Kalyan Banerjee was quoted by IANS as saying.

Justice Ganguly said the charges against him were totally wrong. The girl had not raised any sexual harassment issue with him, he said, adding that he had not done any physical harm to her. He said the intern worked with him though she was not officially allocated to him. She came in place of another intern who had gone abroad after marriage. “I never put up a poster. She came on her own,â� he said.

He said the girl had also come to his house on a number of occasions in connection with the work.

Asked about the charge that he had asked her to come to a hotel room, Justice Ganguly said he was in Delhi at that time in connection with work and she was also in Delhi. “I know what she has said. The question is that when I was in Delhi she was also in Delhi. She came on her own to my…,” he said.

He added that there was inconsistency in her statements as she said that she has respect for him and there was no rancour. He said that the intern was like his child and he treated her that way.

Justice Ganguly, who demitted office on 12 February last year, said that if this trend continues it will be difficult for upright judges to continue to work.

“I have worked with several interns in my life, a large number of them and I treat them like my children. They are all well placed in several places in their lives and nobody has made such allegations. I am shocked and shattered,” he said.

The intern had earlier this month told a legal news portal that a “recently retired” judge with whom she was working earlier had sexually harassed her in December last year.